


Holding hands

by Smowkie



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, POV Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 09:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18826234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smowkie/pseuds/Smowkie
Summary: “Are you okay?” Derek asked.“Peachy,” Stiles wheezed. The monster, whatever the fuck it was, had hit him square in the chest, punched the breath out of him, and he was still trying to get it back. “You?”“I’m fine,” Derek said, dismissively as ever about his own wellbeing.Stiles looked him over, because he wasn’t much better than Derek in the aspect of not really trusting the other when he said he was fine. He was bloodied, a few tears in his clothes, but he looked whole, mostly healed, so Stiles gave another thumbs up. “The monster?”“Dead,” Derek said, and Stiles tiredly lifted a hand up for a high five. Derek looked between it and Stiles’ face a few times, so Stiles raised an eyebrow and Derek rolled his eyes, but he did slap Stiles’ hand. Except they didn’t pull back, neither of them, and after a second Derek kinda… entwined their fingers.Written for the prompt "Please 10 for lil touches prompts. All the chocolates in the world, if it's after a battle and turns into a first kiss/confession. <3" (where 10 isWeak high five turning into holding hands).





	Holding hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ratafia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratafia/gifts).



> I seem to be totally incapable of finishing writing anything except prompts I get on tumblr these days, so I reblogged another prompt list yesterday, [Lil Touches](https://sterekshaven.tumblr.com/post/184845259342), and omgilostmyshoe sent me an ask for 10, _Weak high five turning into holding hands._ I really hope you like it! ♥♥♥
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> [Tumblr post.](https://sterekshaven.tumblr.com/post/184872004112)
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> This is unbetaed, but read through and edited. Any remaining mistakes are mine, please leave them alone.

Stiles was flat on his back, trying to catch his breath. He hadn’t been prepared for a fight at all, but then Derek was there, in his backyard, quietly hissing commands that Stiles confusedly obeyed, got his bat, followed where Derek pointed. Derek wasn’t the one to prank, Stiles didn’t think at least, not about that, so when Derek was sneaking and crouching down and hiss-whispering Stiles listened. Then that… thing showed up and they fought. Hard.

Derek crouched down next to Stiles, his brows furrowed, and Stiles smiled, his breath shaky but he gave a thumbs up, he’d be good in a minute.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked anyway.

“Peachy,” Stiles wheezed. The monster, whatever the fuck it was, had hit him square in the chest, punched the breath out of him, and he was still trying to get it back. “You?”

“I’m fine,” Derek said, dismissively as ever about his own wellbeing.

Stiles looked him over, because he wasn’t much better than Derek in the aspect of not really trusting the other when he said he was fine. He was bloodied, a few tears in his clothes, but he looked whole, mostly healed, so Stiles gave another thumbs up. “The monster?”

“Dead,” Derek said, and Stiles tiredly lifted a hand up for a high five. Derek looked between it and Stiles’ face a few times, so Stiles raised an eyebrow and Derek rolled his eyes, but he did slap Stiles’ hand. Except they didn’t pull back, neither of them, and after a second Derek kinda… entwined their fingers. Stiles looked at their hands, then at Derek, who was frowning at their hands that were slowly lowering to rest on Stiles’ chest. “You went down so hard, I thought...”

Derek's voice was barely even a whisper, and Stiles gently squeezed his hand. “He just punched the air out of my lungs,” he said softly and Derek looked at him again. “I just needed to remember how to breathe, but I’m okay.”

“Good.” Derek nodded, then he, with a surprising lack of grace, sat down on the ground next to Stiles, still holding his hand. “That’s good.”

”Yeah.” Stiles considered sitting up, but the ground was, well, not _comfortable_ , but he didn’t really want to move yet. Or let go of Derek’s hand. ”What was it?”

”What?” Derek asked. He looked tired.

”The monster?”

”Oh. A bog monster.” Derek ran his free hand across his face. “I think he’s been lurking here a while.”

”A bog monster?” Stiles’ mind went to the millions of swamp monsters in fiction, all with terrible names, but really, _bog monster_. That… couldn’t be true.

Derek just shrugged though. ”They’re monsters that live in bogs.”

Stiles pointedly looked around his backyard, stated what he thought was obvious. ”There’s no bog here.”

”There is one a few miles that way.” Derek gestured to the forest and Stiles tilted his head and squinted at the trees, as if he could see it. He shook his head and looked at Derek.

”What,” Stiles said flatly. Derek snorted, and Stiles couldn’t help but smile.

”It might be your spark, I think the scent might have confused him,” Derek said though.

”Are you-.” Stiles almost sat up, _almost_. Instead, he got up on his elbow so he could glare at Derek a little better, their hands still on his chest. ”Are you saying I smell like a _bog_?”

Derek actually bit his lip to try to hide his grin - Stiles nearly cooed, it was adorable - then tilted his free hand in a so so gesture. ”Yes and no?”

”Derek,” Stiles said, and Derek, the _child_ , turned his head away to hide his grin.

After clearing his throat, _twice_ , Derek looked back at Stiles, amusement poorly hidden all over his face.

”A bog has a lot of scents and your spark has a few too, some of them are really similar,” he said. Stiles glared, and Derek bit his lip again. ”God, you should see your face.”

”You’re telling me a creature that lives in a super stinky wetland got confused because of my scent and got lost, you’re lucky you’re holding my free hand or I’d poke you _really_ annoyingly,” Stiles said.

”A bog doesn’t just smell bad though,” Derek said, his smile finally softening into more like fond than cracking up. ”You don’t smell like how you see a bog. Smell a bog.”

”What _do_ I smell like?”

Derek took a deep breath through his nose, made a face and glanced at the bog monster, leaned closer to Stiles, over him, and took another breath.

”Ozone, rain, earth, you know spring rains? Wet asphalt?” Derek asked and Stiles nodded. ”That, and-.” He took another breath. ”Human, like you, it’s hard to describe, but like you. Anxiety, curiosity, Adderall, something sweet, flowery almost. Skin. You know baby smell?”

”Yeah,” Stiles said hesitantly. He didn’t want to smell like _babies_.

”What does that smell like?” Derek asked though.

”Uh.” Stiles furrowed his brows. ”Maybe like baby powder? I don’t know, like babies?”

”Yeah, exactly,” Derek said, shrugged. ”You smell like you, like human, but like _you_.”

”But the ozone and the rain? Does everyone smell like that?”

”No, that’s the spark, that’s probably what confused him,” Derek said with a gesture to the bog monster.

”But the Adderall and anxiety and flowery stuff are me?” Stiles asked.

”Yeah, and curiosity and love and-.” Derek leaned forward again, breathed in through his nose, smiled. ”You smell good. It’s a good smell. Safe and grounded.”

”Grounded…?” Stiles blinked at Derek. ”Love? Does that have a _smell_?”

Derek shrugged. ”Kinda, yeah, that warm feeling you get when you see someone you love? That emits a scent, and it kinda sticks. You love a lot, you always smell like it, even when we’re alone.”

Stiles blinked at Derek again. ”Wow. You-. _Wow_.” He flopped down on his back again just so he could put his hand over his face for a moment, and when he lowered it and looked at Derek he looked a little concerned. ”I thought-,” Stiles started, but he had to stop and shake his head. ”I thought you were really smart and perceptive and stuff. Wow.”

Derek pulled back a little, started to move his hand away, but Stiles gripped it tighter and Derek frowned. ”What.”

”I smell like love around you because I love _you_ , you giant dumb,” Stiles said. ”You just thought I loved other people so much that it was part of my scent when I’m here leaking my emotions all over you.”

”But…” Derek said, his brows furrowed as he looked at their hands, then at Stiles. ”But you-.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. ”But I?”

”But you’ve always done that?”

”Uh, yeah,” Stiles said. ”I fell in love with you when you were all up in my space demanding I saw your arm off.”

”But Lydia? Malia?” Derek said, and he sounded a little helpless, a little lost.

”Yeah, well, I wasn’t gonna get you anyway, so I, you know, tried to smother it and pretend it wasn’t there.”

”You weren’t gonna get me,” Derek whispered, he sounded incredulous, then he looked at Stiles. ”And I thought _you_ were the smart one.”

”What?” Stiles asked, indignant.

”Why didn’t you say anything? You’ve always shouted your love for the world to see, why not for me?” Derek asked.

”Because you’re a guy,” Stiles said. ”The first guy I actually fell in love with. It was scary as fuck, that would mean coming out to everyone I ever told it to, plus I was 16, you weren’t gonna start anything with me even if you _had_ been interested, so it was easier to keep it to myself, and then, I guess it became habit to not say anything.”

”Oh,” Derek said. ”That makes sense. I just kinda figured you’d have said anything because you’re you.”

”But wait,” Stiles said. ”Love, does the smell differ between platonic love and romantic love?”

”No, romantic love is often coupled with arousal, but not always, the love scent is just love though, regardless.”

”And you didn’t even think I loved you platonically?” Stiles asked. ”Jesus, Derek.”

”But you’ve always smelled like that,” Derek said, his voice small. ”It didn’t _change_ , so I assumed your feelings didn’t either.”

Stiles finally let their fingers untangle, but only so he could change his grip on Derek’s hand. He kept it against his chest and awkwardly started to sit up, and Derek helped by pulling on his hand. Stiles scooted to sit cross-legged on the ground, held Derek’s hand between his both, rested them on his thigh, and he looked at Derek.

”Well, I do love you,” he said. ”And I value your friendship. I also want to kiss you and do other gross couply things with you, but the important part is that I do love you. That scent is all for you.”

Derek smiled as he watched their hands, and he nodded, looked at Stiles. ”I-. That makes me happy to hear.” His brows furrowed and he looked down again, then back at Stiles, held eye contact. ”I love you too, and I want to kiss you and do other gross couply things with you too.”

Stiles' brain felt like it stopped and he just looked at Derek for a long time, blinked dumbly. ”You do?”

”Yeah, where was that smart Stiles I knew?” Derek asked.

Stiles huffed out a breath of laughter, let go of Derek with one hand so he could push at his shoulder.

”Asshole,” he said.

Derek rolled his eyes. ”Yeah, I’m really feeling the love here, asshole, giant dumb, all the sweetest pet names.”

Stiles grinned, put a hand on Derek’s cheek. ”Aaw, snugglebunny, you want pet names?”

Derek groaned, but he was smiling too much to fool Stiles, and he was leaning into the touch.

”God, no,” Derek said. He closed his eyes for a second, then looked at Stiles, flicked his eyes to Stiles’ mouth before keeping eye contact. ”I do want to kiss you though.”

Stiles leaned closer, smiled softly, his stomach filled with butterflies doing somersaults or something. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah,” Derek said and leaned closer too, put a hand on the side of Stiles’ neck, the base of his thumb just below his ear, let his fingertips play with the hair on the nape of Stiles’ neck.

”I want that too,” Stiles said.

Derek leaned in the last bit, closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. ”Good,” he said against Stiles’ mouth, and Stiles’ hummed, kissed him again.

”Yeah,” he breathed, then he finally let go of Derek’s hand so he could cup his face with both his hands. He gently guided his head as they deepened the kiss, let his thumbs stroke his beard, moaned at the softness of Derek’s kiss. Stiles pulled back, just enough to lean his forehead against Derek’s though. ”I really want to keep doing this.”

”But?” Derek asked quietly.

”But I have a dead bog monster in my backyard, we’re sitting outside on the ground, my ass it getting cold,” Stiles said. He considered what time it could be, if it was dinner time, then decided that fuck it, what did time matter when he had Derek Hale? ”Wanna help me get rid of a bog monster corpse, then go to the diner and let me buy us food that we can eat while I stare at you and smile too much?”

”What about kissing?” Derek asked, his smile evident in his voice.

”More of that, for sure,” Stiles said with a small nod.

”After we’ve eaten?” Derek asked.

”Definitely,” Stiles agreed. ”And maybe while we get rid of the monster and while we eat. And also handholding, I like handholding, do you like handholding?”

Derek laughed softly. ”I do like handholding.”

Stiles pulled back to look at him, found him smiling, and Stiles own smile grew. God, he would never get enough of that. ”That’s good,” he said. ”So what do you say?”

”It’s a date,” Derek said, and Stiles grinned, pulled him in for a kiss with too much smiling, too much teeth. It was perfect.

”Awesome,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated =) ♥


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